Mobile payments may go mainstream on wearable devices like smartwatches by taking advantage of a new ready-to-use payment solution containing technology from global semiconductor company STMicroelectronics. The firm, in partnership with Giesecke & Devrient (G&D) and FitPay, has used ST's security chip to create a secure hardware and software solution pre-approved for use by device manufacturers with the aim of developing integrated, tokenized payments from MasterCard or Visa.

This effort, according to the company, reduces the barriers to implementing card payments on mobile devices, and also enables wearable-device original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to concentrate on product development. The joint solution gives users the flexibility to load multiple payment cards from various banks and from different payment networks onto a wearable device, the firm explains, thereby facilitating contactless payments, regardless of an end-device's operating system.

A secure operating system from G&D, payment application-management software from FitPay, and hardware components needed to support a mobile-payment application are included and fully integrated around ST's ST54E security chip, which handles cryptographic processing and tamper-proofing. "Wearable devices are transforming the payment experience, and FitPay, ST, and G&D are making it easier to develop payment-enabled wearables," said Michael Orlando, FitPay's CEO, in a prepared statement. "This reference design from ST demonstrates a fully integrated payment solution for manufacturers."

Axel Deininger, the executive VP and head of G&D's Enterprise Security/OEM division, added in the statement: "The integration work we have done together with ST and FitPay to create this reference design overcomes the critical road blocks to delivering the freedom of mobile payments for consumers worldwide."

Laurent Degauque, the marketing director of STMicroelectronics' Secure Microcontroller Division, noted in the statement: "The market has been waiting for a turnkey reference design that greatly simplifies the way device OEMs interact with the payment ecosystem and this effort fits the bill. It provides everything needed for wearables to become the devices that will make mobile payments ubiquitous, simple, safe, and secure."